North Texas has become a mini-hub for players in the large and growing market of power systems for telecom networks, data centers and industrial equipment.

To stay competitive, makers of power systems are creating innovative ways for their gear to save energy and, in the process, be more environmentally friendly.

Eltek ASA, which is based in Norway, last week broke ground on a 124,000-square-foot Americas headquarters in Plano, where it will consolidate the various buildings it currently has in Richardson into one facility.

The new shop, which will house everything from administration to manufacturing, production, engineering, testing and service, is slated for occupancy in December and January. Of Eltek’s $560 million in annual revenue, roughly 29 percent, or $162.4 million, comes from North and South America.

Eltek established its geographic footprint in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2007 when it acquired Richardson’s Valere Power for $83 million in cash, along with various stock consideration.

It now employs 140 people in North Texas, although Allen Pitts, president of Eltek’s Americas region, said it is too early to know how many it will hire here over the next 12 months.

“We want to move into our new building and then decide what we need,” he said.

GE joined the party

Just as Eltek got its feet on the ground in North Texas through an acquisition, so did Connecticut’s General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE). In March 2011, GE bought Plano’s Lineage Power Holdings Inc. for $520 million from a private equity firm, Los Angeles’ Gores Group, which had acquired the business from Tyco Electronics for $100 million.

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